Originally Posted by
horrido27
Otto,
I agree that CAL Pilots (myself being one of them) were "entitled" to Profit Sharing.. but with a caveat.
Profit Sharing is something that we are entitled to, within our CBA. Our CBA has expired. The question should be- should the Profit Sharing expire? Our Perdeim based upon our CBA doesn't expire.. our payrates don't expire.. why did the Profit Sharing expire?
I don't know.
I do know that when you're in Contract Negotiations.. you shouldn't make sides deals concerning items within the CBA.
Also, giving up a 76-200 grievance for Profit Sharing was Apples for Oranges. Had we filled a grievance concerning Profit Sharing and the end result was reinstatement of Profit Sharing, no argument from me (and others).. and had the 76-2 grievance resulted in a 76-2 solution, fine.
Instead, we gave the company a PR Victory (they needed to find a way to give us (CAL Pilots)) Profit Sharing otherwise they would have had egg on their face on the 14th of Feb. Also, had we not have gotten it, even more pilots would have ****ed than are now.
When you say "we had every right to negotiate for it" you open a hell of a big can of worms.
Guess UAL MEC now has the "right" to negotiate for certain things for their side, even if it hurts Unity and the ability to achieve a Joint CBA?
This was a road that I didn't want to go down, yet I fear that my predictions may be coming through.
But make no mistakes about this- there is ALOT of blame to go around. Both MEC's, ALPA National and of course.. The Company.
Sucks
Motch
When the CBA expired, the CAL pilots were simply operating in status quo. The cba is essentially frozen. However, the MEC does reserve the right to negotiate side letters of agreement. This is normal and I beleive that is what the CAL MEC did. I think it would be great to get a full cba in section six. but if you can't, and both sides agree. a side letter may adress a key issue.
The side letter negotiated took care of profit sharing for the 2011 calendar year. It expired previously. There was a reason CAL management would not extend it further or indefinitely. They saw an opportunity to trade for something down the road. Essentially it was a win for both CAL management and the CAL pilots.
The CAL pilots traded a worthless grievance that would have resulted in very little for some real money that would benefited all the CAL pilots. It was a good trade.